Like A Fairy Tale
by lady dire
Summary: Honey Lemon used to love fairy tales and thoroughly believed in their happy ever afters. She was certain her happy ever after had went up in smoke, however. [HiroLemon with some TadashiHoney]


**A/N** ~ _This is my attempt at decent story telling. I'm not sure I succeed. The world lacks HiroLemon. I thought I would at least try to contribute. Please review, if you feel like it. I would really appreciate it a bunch._

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><p>Like A Fairy Tale<p>

Before she was known as Honey Lemon she was just Aiko Miyazaki.

Aiko/Honey's life was supposed to be like one of the fairy tales she loved so very much. She had decided this much from a very early age. Which one? Sleeping Beauty? Cinderella? Snow White?

It didn't matter. Her life was sure to be filled with happiness and enchantment and love.

Just because she was a smart, well _super_ smart girl didn't mean she wasn't in love with the idea of love.

Honey was sure and as she would comb her long golden locks while in her mind's eye pretending to be Rapunzel, that one day she would meet her Prince and together they would live happily ever after.

Tadashi wasn't here anymore.

He never would come back.

While he was here he was never hers to begin with, but GoGo's.

All this Honey had to make peace with in the wake of his untimely death.

Honey Lemon would never get the chance to tell Tadashi Hamada that she loved him. She loved everything about him. From the way his eyes crinkled at their corners as he smiled, or how brilliant and compassionate he was. Or how he was so selfless that he on a daily basis inspired her to be a better person in every aspect of life.

All this would go unsaid.

Hiro was here.

Hiro said he would always be there, not only for her but for all of them.

He called their group Big Hero 6. The name made her smile.

He was a genius like Tadashi, but he was still very much a child at heart and in some ways mind.

He could never be a replacement for Tadashi as a friend, but he was a small part of him. His eyes lit up the same way Tadashi's had when he was excited. Hiro was every bit as compassionate and brilliant as his older brother had been, but where as Tadashi was selfless Hiro was more minded to think of himself and his own goals. Though even then that could change at a the drop of a hat like when he selflessly went after Callaghan's daughter. He was unpredictable. Whatever the case may be as much like Tadashi as he wasn't at the same time.

He was Hiro. Not Tadashi, after all.

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><p>Happy ever afters were not immune from going up in flames. She supposed if she were to be realistic and more grounded, more like herself when it came to science she would have realized by now that the best anyone can hope for is a somewhat peaceful, uneventful moderately content ever after.<p>

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><p>"I'm not Tadashi." He had told her one day. He was only slightly over the age of eighteen and she was just entering twenty-three. Aside from the occasional crime fighting life had settled back into normality long ago. Some months ago he had moved out of Aunt Cass' home and was now sharing an apartment with Wasabi. An apartment that once upon a time Wasabi was planing on sharing with Tadashi.<p>

"I know that." Honey Lemon said seriously. She was rarely solemn, but the mention of the elder Hamada brother and the heaviness of the chilly night's air despite being wrapped in Hiro's jacket had placed her in such a state. She knew something would happen tonight. She felt it in her bones. Something that would either be wonderful or horrible. She wasn't sure yet, but having a track record she voted for horrible.

They were alone standing on the apartment's balcony. Wasabi, GoGo, Fred and Baymax were inside doing whatever. The last she had heard from inside Baymax was scanning Fred for the cause of his crotch itchiness, much to Wasabi's disgust and GoGo's teasing. It didn't matter what the others were doing. Lately they, Hiro and Honey, always seemed to end up being being by themselves, usually with only Baymax as company but tonight even the large balloon-like robot wasn't by their sides.

Drifting back to their conversation she saw Hiro nod his head. His dark black locks obscuring his eyes a little, but his focused seemed to be out towards the city. "I'm glad you know that." He said softly as she ran her thumb across the top of her mug of cocoa.

She took a sip, letting the silence eat away at them, much uncharacteristically like her.

Usually it was her so talkative, but this night she was as stoic as their friend GoGo.

Hiro couldn't stand it.

"Is that a good or...um...a bad thing?" She saw him out of the corner of her eyes whip around to face her, no longer pretending to look out over the San Fransokyo city.

Though it was dark out where they stood there was some light falling in from the sliding glass door, just enough for Honey to believe she saw the faintest hint of red on his cheeks and something akin to fear in his eyes.

"Is what a good or bad thing?" she responded, though she thought she already knew. Unconsciously she gripped her bright lime green mug tighter, becoming white knuckled.

"Is it good that I'm not like _him_." Her breath caught and she stood their silently. She was going to answer him, how she wasn't sure, but she was...as soon as she remembered how to breathe.

Apparently though she doesn't answer quick enough for him. "You loved him?" Hiro asked with a sad smile.

It was Honey's turn to feel a flush of heat rise to her cheeks and a prickle of emotion, of tears to enter her eyes. Remembering _how_ to breathe and taking a deep, calming breath before steadying her voice, "Once upon a time," she recited like the fairy tales she used to love so much.

"You wish I was more like him, then?" Hiro asked bluntly. He had stopped looking at her so intensely and was again feigning interest in the cityscape. "You wish I _was_ him, I guess?"

She hesitates for a moment. Not because she wishes it was Tadashi standing here before her and not Hiro, but because there is something about the way Hiro is speaking that awakens something in her. Something she had pushed off and out of her mind for so long.

She had spent so long wishing Tadashi was here. Wishing she saw more of him in Hiro, that it wasn't until that moment did she realize as strongly as she felt for Tadashi that if Hiro were to vanish or somehow morph into Tadashi 2.0 then she would be standing here lamenting over her gone Hiro and all his Hiro-ness.

"No." She answers softly before taking another sip of cocoa. It slides down her throat hot and warm, and she wonders if it's what spurring the growing warmth all over her or is it something else causing these feelings.

She feels Hiro's eyes on her again and it takes her a moment to bring herself to look at him.

Dark brown eyes met forest green and she knew Hiro saw her in a way Tadashi's identical eyes never did.

She smiled a small smile. He smiled back at her, the charming gap in between his teeth still there even in adulthood.

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><p>Honey Lemon would never forget Tadashi Hamada, and whatever she felt for Hiro in those early morning hours she was sure she would eventually tackle. It would be a long road, and possibly very bumpy. She still had a lot to learn about Hiro despite knowing him for nearly five years. She still had alot to learn about herself as well.<p>

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><p>As the years pass and the once ditsy science geek with a penchant for chemicals grew into her own she would realize many things.<p>

She realized Tadashi was here. He was always here to begin with.

He was in Hiro's smile.

He was in the laughter than rang out between the Big Hero 6 as they talked about their last caper.

He was in Baymax's awkwardness as he struggled to comprehend things that came so naturally to humans.

He was in the way the sun shined down on her golden hair and warmed her to the very core.

He was in the way her daughter selflessly stood up for her younger, more timid brother in the midst of bullies on the playground.

And of course she had learned that Hiro was irreplaceable and perfect the way he was, even if it took her awhile to realize it.

Tadashi had been a chapter in her life in which she had grew and learned and loved. An interesting, much needed part in her life.

While Hiro, along with their children Akane and Taiki had been the heroes who whisked her away into something that seemed very much like a happily ever after from her stories she once again loved so much.


End file.
